FEEL A SISTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nTSIKI mAZWAI

Napo Masheane

Lebo Mashile

Myesha Jenkins

My voice

The women who gave me a voice, my first memory of the spoken word... Feela Sistas!!!!!!!
This group of joy, celebration, depth, speech and every other hypnotic word you can think of consisted of the most worthy of women namely Lebo Mashile, Myesha Jenkins, Ntsiki Mazwai, Napo Masheane.... These women are powerhouse on their own and combined they rocked cultural boundaries, socie limitation, conquered social ills and danced with our nations beauty.

This powerhouse that fused speech with music formed March 2003 and I "met" them beginning of 2004 and it is then that they gave me my mind and voice and wtiting became my everything. I began to realise that I had to ask questions, I began to realise the power that I hold within and sooo much more.

this is a poem i wrote in 2004 that none at the time knew... i had taken my inspiration for feel sista from the four of you:

I have fallen to the bowels of this earth
And risen, risen to an unforsaken world
Of which the heathen have not caressed
From sleep i wished never to wake up
Rather than be part of the fraudlity born of this make up

Introduced to the world of slam
Slam, a vreugde nd voorspoed expression
Of art
Passed on to me and you by them
Who have come to make you and me be
That of which must be conquered...

My eyes to think, the mind to see, my mouth to kill
And my body to talk, I have learned.
A psychedellerious feeling of TNT

When last, when last did my body taste the sweets
Given off by my forefathers
That of them that shreds my skin
That of hem from which I breathe
That of them that kills their tongue
And empowers my soul to scream

Feel a Sista
Feel a Sista speak

It is by this
I declare...
Revived and rejuvenated...
Again...
Beautiful I am

And with that I celebrate all for of you as 4 of my top 31 women who have inspired me

Everything is Everything

Maya's Gift to You....

Phenomenal Woman


Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.


I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.


Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.


Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing,
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
The palm of my hand,
The need for my care.
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
—Maya Angelou

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

She first whisked me away in the "The Heart of A Woman" though she stole my mind because of the title"I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" which would later become one of my favourite writing by her.

I have fallen in love with her and who she is through her stories in all her writng.

Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928. She grew up in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. She is an author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer, director, performer, singer, and civil rights activist. More than that, She is God's gift to women and all the more reason to sing.

Through her writing we have discovered why she sings and why we can sing. I have been singing since the first time I met her in primary.

She is and always will be my top 31 women who have inspired me and will continue to do so with others.

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song." - Maya Angelou

Everything is Everything

THE BLACK SASH

"hayi wena bhuti take it slowly please. ncel'ungandixheshi ungandixheshi". She married my husband-to-be(well at least in my dreams at the time he was) but nonetheless I could not have replaced myself with anyone better through the grace that she holds.

 She inspires me in so many ways I could not even  begin to explain. For me, It goes way beyond her music but her grace, her humility, her warmth, strength and celebration that she holds as a beautiful South African Lady. Her Laughter and her voice invites you to her and inspires you to be you, to be human and love it.

I may not write a whole page about you but continue to sing albums of myself through the influence that you have had on me through radio.

To you, continue to be every women. You display some fragility that can bulldose any building that closes my vision and my dreams. You make femininiy beautiful. You are my top 31 women who have inspired me and I celebrate you this month.

Everything is Everything

BAG LADY

FEARLESS!!! A CULTURE!!!!
Who woud have guessed that the african woman wearing a doek on the red carpet just like in her music video would create her own culture: BADUISM. A culture that only she followed but one that would that would give her the greatest of followings and one that would influence and inspire many a women and men (believe it or not)

Erykah Badu and her psychedelirrious outbursts in song have inspired me nad given me an empowerment, contentment and thirst for life that no other musician has given me...Its lmost like she has this underlying messages in all her songs that screams LIVE!!!!

SHE CONTINUES TO TELL ME TO SCREAAAAAAAAAMMM!!!! and I scream louder.

She is Erykah Badu. She is Culture - She is Baduism. She is Scream. She is Music. She is and She is and She is....on and on!!!!!! She is one of my top 31 women who give me me on a daily basis.

Everything is Everything

Beautifully Human

Jill Scott has always had this glow about her, this presence of joy and beauty that warms your soul from a distance and gives your an instant attraction to her even before hear the first sound of her music, let her alone hte lyrical content. It is exactly after you hear her songs that you immediately understand her glow (and how real it is)

She continues to inspire me through the choice and the way she chooses to embrace and celebrater herself and her sensuality. It is through it that her beauty lies and the soul in her songs is felt.

I conitnue to fall in love with myself every time I listen to her songs and see her explore every piece of herself and as part of women's month I celebrate her as my 31 women who have inspired me and continues to do so..

Everything is Everything

Watch her eyes - "Stolen Note" , Thanks Vuyo Gwayi

A little boy asked his mother, "Why are you crying?" "Because I'm a woman," she told him. "I don't understand," he said. His Mom just hugged him and said, "And you never will."

Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?"

"All women cry for no reason," was all his dad could say.

The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry..

Finally he put in a call to God. When God got on the phone, he asked, "God,
why do women cry so easily?"

God said

"When I made the woman she had to be special. I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, Yet gentle enough to give comfort I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and therejection that many times comes from her children.

I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all
circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly. I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart. I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly.

And finally, I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is needed". "You see," said God, "the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart - the place where love resides."

Please send this to ten beautiful women you know today. If you do, something
good will happen - You will boost another woman's self-esteem.
Pass it on to men too - perhaps they will then understand "why women cry".

I GET OUT!!!!!!!!!!

Some of us first met her with the fugees and some with sister act but either I do not think I have ever met anyone who could not fall inlove with at least one song from this woman's and above all learn something and ask themselves questions, questions that need answers and asks to somehow make a change ino ur lives and that of others.

Lauryn Hill, born 26 May 1975 is a woman that is still relevant today in her music despite not releasing in years. She continues to inspire and just like the picture, which best described her music, allows us the opportunity to reflect on ourselves and the world we live in - as if the sound of her hoarse yet soulful voice hypnotises us to listen a little more.

Whenever I needed to find myself again, think and be at a serene place Lauryn knew how to take me there. Besides its where I first heard the title of this blog.

She has and stil remains my favourite artist of all time and I celebrate her as one of my top 31 ladies who have inspired me.

Everything is Everything

UYINGOMA!!!!!!!!!

The picture I was looking for was of Thandiswa Mazwai shaving her hair off in the video thathi sgubhu... That was my introduction to her ans some part of me I would discover for me because exactly a month later after seeing her in the video, I shaved my hair off thinking it was the coolest thing ever to hit planet earth - a woman who shaved her head and still looked like a girl. Of course little did I know I was still in Junior Primary and noone thought it was cool but rather funny and spent the first week being teased. When I think about it now I was such a punk.

I carried her and Bongo Maffin with me and with her new soloist person i followed with my undivided attention. I walked with her in my early high school years. buying her Zabalaza album three times and as i pursued my afrocentricity -  clothes and all. Its when I f

Thandiswa Mazwai continues to touch me and others through her unique voice and song. She continues to be the song of our nation,

So if ever a woman I had to include in my 31 ladies who have and continue to inspire me, I choose to celebrate her. She taught me that being black and being xhosa is not just beautiful and also sexy and a pride and honour I should carry everyday with who I am... It is me.

She calls on each and every person to stand fast in finding who they are, accepting that person and being proud of that person so we can stand for our nation and as an individual live.

"Ndiyaziqhenya ngawe mz'ontsundu"

EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING

A Woman With A Voice

You would think choosing a picture would be the easiest thing to do especially when it comes to celebrities (I stutter to use that word to describe this lady but it will do for now) but it was too difficult choosing a picture that would best display in one glance the power this woman has and continues to share with the world. Power in her sound, power in her words and power in who and what she is in every single aspect. Choosing a title for her, came with no dificulty because she has shown that she is a woman with a voice not only in her music but also in social issues that need to be addressed in our country, South Africa and it is a voice to be heard by many and has been heard my many including myself - Im still listening and growing, Mind and Spirit.

I wont give away her age because it is said a woman's age is her secret(google it..ssssshhh) but she was born in Gcuwa in the transkei,Eastern Cape (I am from Mthatha...shine - transkei tendancies) and my co groupie for Ms Dana would be my grandmother who resides in butterworth as she would proudly say she knows the dana family (the policeman) and we would pride ourselves in that in our hearts weve always known Simphiwe Dana (please dont tell my gran I just exposed her).

Your music has fed me and taught me to stand, to reflect and give thanks. I continue to feel good in my skin through women like you and for that it gives me great honour and privillege to celebrate you as one of my 31 women who inspire me for women;s month.

To sis Simphiwe, you havent reached forty yet and they say life begins and forty...I wait with anticipation what that beginning has in store for the rest of us all. Keep shining and keep being that change and inspiration#Simamele

ZANDISILE

Everything is Everything